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By JOSIE HUANG
MaineToday Media, Inc. Saturday, June 9, 2007

MaineToday Media, Inc.

State lawmakers have breathed life back into a project to make Maine one of the first states to put patient records on-line so doctors can provide better care from anywhere in the state and avoid medical errors that lead to hospitalization or death.

After three difficult years of fundraising, HealthInfoNet this week received enough money from the Legislature for it to match a $1 million grant and bring the total amount raised to $2.8 million.

The state contribution moves the non-profit closer to launching a pilot project next year with volunteer patients at MaineHealth, which operates Maine Medical Center, Martin's Point Health Care, and several other health care systems.

"This basically keeps us alive," Dr. Stephen Rosenfeld, a board member and chief of information services at MaineHealth, said of the state funding. "It also will help us get other funding. I think it's a significant statement of the state's commitment to the effort."

Hundreds of health information sharing projects are being developed in cities and regions around the country, but only Delaware has succeeded so far in making electronic medical records available statewide, said HealthInfoNet executive director Devore Culver.

HealthInfoNet officials say they want to replicate the program for Maine. The plan is to gather a patient's medical information, which is presently scattered in multiple locations -- at a doctor's office here, a specialist's office there, at the pharmacy or at the emergency room -- and compile it in a database to provide a full picture of a person's medical history.

Having this information accessible would be particularly helpful in the event of an emergency, such as a car accident far from home, Culver said.

"It's an insurance policy in some respects," Culver said. "It's about going to a doctor and knowing that they'll know the basic facts about me that are important. Today, that's totally on the shoulders of people."

State Rep. Jeremy Fischer, co-chair of the Appropriations Committee, said the Legislature included $265,000 in its two-year budget for HealthInfoNet, once known as Maine Health Information Network Technology.

Foundations, hospitals and insurers contributed the rest of the money needed to qualify for the $1 million matching grant from the Maine Health Access Foundation, the state's largest health care foundation, officials said.

The non-profit HealthInfoNet had initially requested $2 million from the Legislature - the amount the Delaware program got from the state - but legislators decided to carry the bill to next year.

Still, Fischer said, there was such broad support for HealthInfoNet on the Appropriations Committee that members decided to include the money the non-profit needed to get the matching grant.

"It's a great public-private partnership," Fischer, a Democrat from Presque Isle, said. "Taxpayers in Maine appreciate they're getting a great deal."

The non-profit, which has spent $800,000 to operate over the last three years, has a third of the funding it needs for its planned launch of a $6 million, two-year pilot program next summer or fall. Culver said he expects much of the balance will come from federal grants.

Other health care organizations that have signed up for the pilot project are Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, MaineGeneral Health and Central Maine Healthcare.

Culver said that patient participation is entirely voluntary and will require written consent. To protect patient privacy, doctors will have log-ins and passwords. The system also will let patients see who has viewed their medical history, and what they saw. They may also be allowed to cherry pick which practioners have access to their records.

Rosenfeld said the system will not be impenetrable to security breaches. But he and others said the benefits outweigh the risks.

Wendy Wolf, president and chief executive officer of the Maine Health Access Foundation, said when she was practicing as a children's heart specialist she examined a 3-year-old patient without any medical records available. She had to rely on the mother to describe the three surgeries the child had undergone.

"I'm thinking to myself, I hope I have enough information to first of all, do no harm, and secondly to help the patient.

"I can tell you there's not a doctor in this state that hasn't confronted something similar," Wolf said. "You say to yourself, "There's got to be a better way to have vital information at our fingertips."

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